1. I was surprised reading one article in The Star yesterday (17 January 2012) written by Karim Raslan about abolishing the University Act (UUCA). The article is fundamentally wrong in many aspects and to some extent it is a blatant lie by the author.

2. Mainly the article is about consequences of the University act and how the act can lead to producing mediocre graduates from local universities. To support his argument, the author citing one example of an event organized by UKEC in London which invites speakers to talk about hot issues revolve in Malaysia. Citing that example, the author said that the local students unable to organize that kind of event due to the repression imposed by the act. This according to him will not encourage the development of critical thinking ability among the students and as such local students are doomed to fail in securing good jobs.

3. That claim is outrages and totally misleading. First of all, the UUCA does not stop any students from organizing any event or forum or debate that discuss about any issues especially the one that related to the academics. Subsection 6 paragraph (b) in the act clearly stated

"a student of the University shall not be prevented from expressing himself on the subject referred to in paragraph (a) at a seminar, symposium or similar occasion that is not organized or sponsored by any political party, whether in or outside Malaysia..."

4. In this regard, the students and their organizations are free to organize any event/seminar/debate/forum as long as the programme is not organized or sponsored by any political party. Therefore the students are free to arrange an event as provocative and thought-provoking as projek amanat negara (PAN) of UKEC. In fact there were quite a number of events such as debates organized by local students council and some of them involve discussion on hot issues. This clearly shows that the statement by Karim Raslan about UUCA has denied local students from partaking the life-changing activities is completely false and a lie.

5. The author has also condemned the recent actions by the authority to suspen Adam Adli suggesting that the students are punished for thinking outside the box. What on earth is he trying to manipulate here ? First of all, Adam adli and his group never think outside the box and they did not even thinking inside the box. They don't think at all and this weakness has nothing to do with UUCA. In fact the failure to understand the UUCA shows how weak their thinking ability and the same can be said to the author that ask for the abolishment of the act. The actions against them are due to their lacking of thinking ability (inside or outside) that caused them violating the law.

6. On top of that, the author blame the authority for treating these students like criminals for seeking their rights. This is again a blatant lie from the author. What rights the students are looking for? Is breaking into school compound in the middle of the night is their rights? Is hooligantly breaking into clinic is their right? Is marching towards PWTC and bringing down the Prime Minister picture is their right? By the same token, does it mean that a burglar breaking into a house cannot be treated as criminal since they are exercising their rights? The answer is no. The students are treated as criminal because they are violating the rights of others. They are criminals. A student who is breaking into the university compound in the middle of the night is clearly wrong and can be treated as criminal. Its nothing wrong with that. The likes of Karim Raslan should be able to ask themselves, why don't the student organize a forum inviting panelist from various sections to discuss about a specific section of the act? Just like what being done by UKEC. UUCA does not stopping them from doing so yet they prefer to do an uneducated ways of expressing their views by going to the street. Clearly they share the same uneducated ways of doing things with the oppositions in the country and one must not fail to see the influenced and linkages between them on the political party from the oppositions. This is a strong reason why the UUCA is needed and this is important to stop the students from being influenced by any political party that can cause their mind seized from functioning.

7. In other part of the article, Karim Raslan created more lies and manipulations. He said that any sensible young person with a good degree abroad doesn't want to come back to a country that gratuitously represses individualism. Look like the author tried to mislead the reader here. If the student got a degree from abroad why must he being repressed in the country? Sure the students are not going to the university since he has gotten the degree hence UUCA is not applicable to him. So what is repressing him? Just look at some of the politicians from oppositions that once studied abroad. They are free to express their opinions some time to the great extent of telling lies.

8. Another lie or prejudicial statement made by Karim Raslan is when he said the well-off (well-connected) get to go to better universities and the poor are condemned to substandard institutions indicating the well-connected go to overseas and the poor go to substandard local universities. This is a serious false allegation made by him. I'm curious to know what is his intention by making these lies. The government never ever discriminate students between going abroad or locally. Everything is done based on merit. I'm sure he can figure this out. Its not that difficult to get the data. Portraying our local universities as substandard is another irresponsible remarks by the author. Clearly he failed to see the achivements made by our local graduates in various field and areas that shaping up the country to what we have today - another example of melayu mudah lupa.

9. In a nut shell, Karim Raslan has failed to think outside the box and doesn't have critical thinking ability to comprehend the Universities Act. Perhaps he is not even reading the Act hence his proposal to abolish the Act is ridiculous. If he cares to read the Act, he will know that the part that deals with the students activities and organizations is only 10% of the whole document. There are only two sections, section 15 and 16 that involves students activites and organizations. The universities Act covers a broad range of sections that constitutes the entire law in regulating and controlling the management of the universities. Therefore asking for the abolishment of the Universities Act is unwise and irrational.